The Stay
by PurinJPG
Summary: Quint, a green robot of the future, was woken up to a much different fortress, he is not too familiar with these strange, time traveling robot masters, but they're not the same robots that Dr Wily created during the events of Mega Man II GB... Will the pressure get to him?


In a voidless world, everything is silent until garbled voices can be heard, saying various praises and things, both belong to an evil old man with a German accent, who is bent on world domination, and a young adult, who retired from hero work and became a lab assistant once more, but ended up being captured by the insane elderly man.  
The young man shouted and screamed "What's going on? Why am i wearing nothing but my bodysuit? And what are you going to do to me?"  
"For one, I'm going to reprogram you into a perfect super soldier, because the other one didn't work out as much as i planned it, and two, you are going to destroy Megaman from my time-zone! Once he's out of the picture, there will be no one left to stop me!" The elderly man laughed maniacally as he enjoys reprogramming the young robot into a super fighting robot, again. But this time, he won't be wearing blue anymore...

After a while, the voices have stopped. Behind a blue helmet visor, a man's eyes has opened, he sat up from a couch to scan his current surroundings. Everything appears to be different, the sliver painted walls are covered in titanium alloy, making it impossable to blast them open with a simple plasma shot, potted trees rotting to death due to negligence, Metools with hats covered in spray paint, bits of robot debris on the floor, a message board on the wall filled with papers that involve destroying everything (including Symphony City), and of course, gothic metal rock music blaring from the radio. He thought he was rescued at first, but until he saw the board's papers.

He also saw something else on the floor, a gray, plastic suitcase with a red handle bar on top. He doesn't remember if he did have any other belongings during his short stay at the space fortress, he opened up the suitcase and it revealed green, yellow, brown, black, and white clothing. "Are these supposed to be my clothes?", said the young man in green armor, confused and baffled out of his mind.

"Yes, these are your clothes." Said another voice. It came from another young man, he has brown hair and gray eyes, wearing a shirt with a redwood color on top, and dark gray at the bottom, with long gray sleeves, jeans with a gray belt with an unusual belt buckle that is shaped like a compass, and red/gray shoes. The green robot's mind was filled with endless questions that wanted to be answered, such as "Who are you?" and "What is this place? This place doesn't look like Wily's space fortress..."  
"I am Compass Man," said the other young man, "and this is the Dimensions' hideout. You've only been in the space fortress for a few hours at least, so my friend brought you here because he got mad at his father for scrapping him, replacing him with you, Quint. If you want, i can take you to his room, or whatever room he's in." He finished.

Quint accepts. He closed the suitcase and carries it with him. They both left the room and enters the catacombs of the fortress. During his nightmare, the green robot did know about Wily saying something about the other robot, while being reprogrammed. "So... What's he like?" Quint questioned, wondering what Compass Man's friend really looks like, in terms of both his looks and his personality. "Well, he looks just like you, except he's a bit taller and he usually wears dark green and black armor." Compass Man began. "Is he nice?" Quint replied.

"No, unfortunately." Said Compass in a neutral tone. Quint frowned after he heard that and it didn't surprise him that much. The other robots in the space fortress didn't cared about Quint that much either, dispite being reprogrammed to destroy a certain little blue robot that gave Wily headaches from time to time. "If that's true, then is he obsessed with taking over the world like Dr. Wily?" Quint asked again.  
"Not really, but aside from destroying major cities left and right, he and his men wants to destroy every human and robot in whatever time-zone they travel to." Compass replied. Whatever he said made Quint uncomfortable. It sounded much more devastating than just destroying Megaman. That was old objective, yet, he forgot all about it. The two saw a door and they opened it, revealing a staircase with railings.

The stairs seem to suffer some damage, both Quint and Compass Man tried to be careful about going up in them, because some of the steps are trying to break open, presenting a safety hazard for the duo. My word, who keeps running up and downstairs in this room so frequently? Someone's going to invest some serious step replacements one of these days.  
Giggling and footsteps can be heard in this room, coming from a pair of two robotic wristwatches, both have arms, legs, and of course, a head. "Hey, it's the new guy!" Said one of the two robots, in a playful tone. That embarrassed Quint, thinking if he's a newcomer to anything, which followed his next question, "Who said that?"

"One of the Clock Men," Compass answered, "They run up and down on the staircase when someone feeds them too much sugary foods and sodas. I told them not to damage the stairs any further, but they kept ignoring me about it." That also worries Quint the next time he uses the stairs to the basement. If they continued to ignore Compass Man's warning about the stairs, chances are, the steps will break, rendering the basement staircase unuseable. After climbing the last part of the staircase they see another door, which leads to the main room of the fortress as they both enter it.

The main room of the Dimensions' hideout is huge, and a few more robots can be seen as well. One of the Clock Men ran past the duo, trying to avoid Compass Man, but he wasn't going to let him off the hook, he gave the young robot a warning with a strict tone to his voice, "If you and your brother keep running up and down the basement stairway like that, the steps will break! And if they did break, we can't use the basement stairway anymore! One of us may even fall down and get hurt! Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir! We promise not to play in the stairs again until our master can repeair the steps!" Said Clock Man B, in a frightened tone as he ran off, looking for his brother, Clock Man A.  
Just as the young robot left the room, Quint spots another robot sitting on a chair, writing something on a notebook. He wears black armor with a dark green jumpsuit underneath, wearing a helmet that is similar to Quint's, but with a much sharper boomerang and a red visior. Quint didn't know what to say to him without angering the older robot, but it was best to let Compass Man say something to him, first, just to be safe.

The brown-haired robot shouted "Hey!" to the black/dark green clad robot, he lifts his head up to see his friend and the green robot, standing there. He closed the notebook as he stood up from the chair, walking to Quint, and introduced himself. "Quint, my name is R-Shadow. I am the leader of the Dimensions. The reason why you're here because we thought we could use a recently reprogammed robot to destroy all of mankind, past and present." He began.

"Wait a minute," Quint interrupted with a concerned tone, "I don't have any weapons. Whatever Dr. Wily did to me, i am completely unarmed. No busters or anything." He finished.  
"It looks like my father forgot to give you some weapons afterwards." Said R-Shadow, "But i can take care of that problem very quickly. Hey, Kussaku! Sakugarne! Come here!"  
R-Shadow introduced Quint to a pair of two pogo-stick jackhammer hybrid robots. Kussaku is the one with the redwood color with red eyes and a mouth, and Sakugarne is light red, with black eyes hidden away with a V-shaped light blue visor, much like the one Quint wears.

"Hi." Quint greeted Kussaku with a soft, gentle tone to his voice, but he hissed at him for some reason, making Quint uneasy and just frowned at him. "Sorry about that, Quint. He only talks to me." R-Shadow apologized. Quint greeted Sakugarne with the same gentle tone, and it was a success. "Saku," That was the young jackhammer's reply, meaning that he said "hi" back to Quint, in his own language. "I can't use two jackhammers at once, so i decided to give Sakugarne to you. He'll be your weapon of your choice." Said R-Shadow in a neutral tone. "I only used him for defending myself for a few times, since his coating is made out of the same materials of the Metool hats and the walls, is soild titanium." He finished.  
Since then, Sakugarne began to show kindness to his new master, as Quint petted him on the head, making the pogo-stick jump and squeal with excitement. He also can't wait to have his own room, so he can spend some time with his new friend.

Compass Man was also smiling as well, telling his friend without Quint overhearing, "I'll take his suitcase upstairs, R-Shadow, since he doesn't want to meet the rest of the Dimensions." After all, he was too busy playing with Sakugarne to begin with. "As you wish." He replied. Compass went ahead and took Quint's suitcase upstairs to his new room.  
As soon as Compass left, a robot resembling a Japanese monk (called the Komuso) appears in a puff of smoke, wearing a purple robe, a basket helmet and a pair of traditional Japanese sandals. "This must be Quint," Komuso Man started, "The robot you rescued from the space fortress."  
R-Shadow continued to stare at Quint and Sakugarne with a blank glare on his face, thinking if he got what it takes to be a part of their group. "Yep. That's him, all right. I just gave him his Sakugarne as a weapon and as his loyal support-unit to create pitfalls for people to fall in and slice open objects." He replied.  
Komuso Man has sensed a much different presence from Quint, but he just don't know how to explain it to his master. "Even through he's working for you now, but you and Compass Man may want to monitor him very carefully, because he just might have a change of heart at some point..." He finished.  
"What do you mean by that?" Said R-Shadow, slightly confused. Then, Komuso Man replied, "Sometimes not all reprogrammed robots will follow your every order you create, even if it is Quint, or anyone else for that matter." The dark green robot took Komuso Man's warning very seriously in case if something goes wrong with Quint, both mentally and physically.  
He may not see it just yet, but when the time comes, there will be serious consequences...

It didn't take long for Quint wanting to see his new room. It had a twin-sized bed with pillows and extra blankets, a chair with a desk, a dresser, an HD television set with 9820 channels, a closet, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a radio. The walls however, they're the same as the basement and the main room. Golly, what's up with R-Shadow and his obsession with solid titanium walls? His suitcase was already on the bed, just waiting to be opened if Quint wanted to wear civilian clothing. He opened it again to see what kind of clothes he wanted to wear. Everyone else who lives in this hideout need to learn how to knock first before entering, especially if they want to see Quint.

"Green cargo pants, white shirt, brown flight jacket..." Quint murmured, while digging through the contents of the suitcase. He already knew he wasn't wearing blue anymore since the reprogramming incident, making him perfer green as his new favorite color. He was ready to slip into his new outfit, but there's one problem.  
The suitcase lacked any pairs of shoes. Maybe the Dimensions expected to see Quint wearing his robo-boots while wearing civilain clothing, thinking they have more protection than regular shoes. And here's hoping that the pant legs will cover the upper parts of the boots.  
"Can you shut the door, please?" Quint whispered to Sakugarne. "Saku," The jackhammer hybrid listened as he hopped forward to the door and shut it. And for his own sake, he even went into the closet to hide, so Quint can change outfits without worrying too much.

Outside of Quint's room, a robot resembling a stove knocks on the door, holding a plate full of tacos. "Can you wait for a minute?" Said Quint, behind the door. Followed by another robot who looks like an air conditioner with a fan on his chest (just like Air Man), and another who looks like a giant bullet with arms, legs, and a head. All three of them want to see Quint, but they'll have to wait until he gets dressed. "Is the new guy in here?" Said Dangan Man, the bullet robot. "Yes, but he's doing something in there." Aircon Man replied, holding 2 flat fans on each hand. All they wanted to do is to welcome Quint to the team.

After a minute has passed, Sakugarne has hopped out of the closet, as Quint finally got his clothes on. He answered the door only to see three more robots standing outside of his room. The stove robot (Konro Man) lefts up the plate, saying "Tacos?" Of course Quint didn't mind having a taco or two, he was a little bit hungry anyway. "Did you cook these?" Said Quint, while eating. "Of course i did," Konro Man replied. "I've been cooking tacos and pastas for a long time, kid, and you ain't seen nothing yet."

In the kitchen, Konro Man showed Quint his prized recipes and dishes, and even explained about the "incidents" involving a few bad nights during dinnertime. His favorite is the 4-course Volcano Steak, which are large pieces of meat, loaded with 4 types of hot sauces and peppers. The Volcano Steak is usually recommended for fire-type robots, due to high-levels of spiciness. It was originally going to be an 8-course version of it, but the other Dimensions delined it and toned it down to 4 after a disastrous dinner involving the Volcano Steak, which leaded to R-Shadow blowing fire out of his mouth, Compass Man having major heartburn, Dangan Man flew out the window at high-speed, and the Clock Men's Time Bomb weapon summoned towers of fire, while trying to slow down time in order to stop the madness, but failed. R-Shadow scolded the stove robot afterwards, and they were lucky that incident didn't made the hideout burn down to nothing.

The Explosive Fire Cracker Chicken is just as dangerous as the 8-course Volcano Steak. They made a few of the Dimensions blown up to pieces. Only Dangan Man and Aircon Man were the victims, since R-Shadow, Compass Man, Komuso Man and the Clock Men were too smart to eat that, especially what happened after the Volcano Steak incident. They were repaired afterwards. Since then, the Explosive Fire Cracker Chicken recipe is banned from the hideout and is out of Konro Man's reach. R-Shadow claimed that Konro Man was playing "Bomberman" at the time, which explains some of the ingredients of the Explosive Fire Cracker Chicken came from.

Sure, he's a great cook, but sometimes cooking one of his favorite types of foods can go backfire, endangering the lives of the other Dimensions. Even Quint wanted to avoid eating foods that contain too much hot sauce nor having ingredients containing tiny explosive fireworks. Konro Man's cooking is not limited to making spicy foods, he also does deserts, too.

"To be honest, i think it would be safer to just to have regular foods for dinner." Quint started.

"And that's why i've been doing pastas, burgers, salads and tacos recently. Maybe even a little bit of barbque to go with it." Konro Man replied.

"Thank goodness the Fire Cracker Chicken was banned from our hideout, R-Shadow was ready to blow up a major temper tantrum after Dangan and i exploded to pieces." Aircon Man joined in.

"I thought it was going to have a pop-rock-like sizzling sensation once you taste it, but i think someone snuck into the pantry and put itty bitty fireworks in there, instead. And no, i wasn't playing "Bomberman" during my free time." Said Konro Man, slightly annoyed.

"Saku-ee-he he..." Sakugarne was trying to hold his laughter, as he has a mental image about R-Shadow blowing out fire like a dragon.

"I wasn't the one who put those fireworks in there, Konro. Maybe it was the Clock Men, they're the only pranksters of our group. They're the reason your recipe was banned." Said Dangan Man.

"Really? Pesky wristwatches, i never really trusted these two anyway." Konro Man replied. What Dangan Man said to Konro Man about lifted a huge weight off his shoulders. It wasn't really his fault about putting the fireworks in the chicken, but there was no reason for R-Shadow to ban the recipe, just because he put the wrong ingredients in it, but Aircon Man disagrees about it and rather stick with his master's idea.

"I still think it should be banned. Before you know it, Quint might become the next victim. Either with dragon breath, blown up, or having some serious heartburn. I wouldn't be surprised if any of us has eaten that recipe while watching an R-rated movie." Aircon Man concluded, also annoyed. Thinking that Quint may try the banned recipe, ending up like the same fate like he and Dangan Man did. Like the green robot said, he'd rather eat something much more safer, such as energy pellets and salads. And as for movie night, which leaded to Dangan Man wondering about what they're going to watch during the nighttime hours.

"Speaking of movie night, what film are we going to watch, tonight?" Said Dangan Man, as he attempts to change the subject, thinking what film are they're going to see next.

"I wanted to see 'The Evolution of Fans and Air Conditioners'", Aircon Man replied. "But R-Shadow wants to watch another episode of 'Sigma: Mavericks in Control', which is a dystopian anime series. It has a lot of depressing stuff in that show." As far as movie night's concerned, Quint is not interested in watching an anime about living in a world with nothing but corruption, besides, he'd rather watch something that's suitable for him and Sakugarne... If he knows what kind of shows or movies that he likes...

But there's something else that bothered Quint... He hadn't looked out in any windows, yet, thinking if anything in this world had changed. Worried, he ran out of the kitchen. Sakugarne catches up with him to see what's bothering him.

"Whoa, what's with him?" Said Aircon Man, as he sees Quint left the room in shock. "Is it something that we said?" Konro Man also joined in, but it's not something they said.

In the hallway, Quint saw a nearby window and he looked out... Only to see a city nearly in ruins, with helicopters and various aircraft flying in the air, searching for a missing laboratory assistant, who was once a super fighting robot that everyone knew and love. He stood in horror as he continues seeing the city slowly going into shambles.  
"What happened to this city...?" Quint whispered, ready to break down in tears due to the city's grim outcome.

"This is the world you used to live in, Quint," R-Shadow entered the room, seeing Quint horrified about what's happening to the city. "Except the fact that Megaman has been missing for 3 years straight, and nothing ever turned up about him, ever. And this time zone also took place 3 years after my father reprogrammed you, that's why everything in this world is in total dispair." R-Shadow's words aren't helping Quint's current situation any, only to make him more confused. Also, Megaman missing for 3 years? This must be a horrible world to live in.

"Three years?" Quint asked in a sad tone, "This is impossible. I've only been reprogrammed for 6 hours... What are you guys, time travelers?"

"You are correct," R-Shadow replied. "We used the Time Skimmer to bring you into this future, it's a device that travels through time. And we thought this world is suitable for us to live in... This world lacks a savior of its own, not even any type of policeman, or a soldier, either human or robot, have the will-power to stop us, since they usually end up in retirement, afterwards." He finished, with a neutral tone to his voice.

"No..." Quint whispered. Not wanting to hear everything that R-Shadow said is true. "This has got to be a fake world we're living in... This can't be true!"

"Nothing is fake". R-Shadow replied coldly. "This future will remain to be existant, until Megaman from the past decides to not to retire from protecting the world that he loved so much, or avoid being reprogrammed as a powerless lab assistant. If that does happen, you won't exist. And to top it off... You. Are. Him. And if you die, you'll cause a major time paradox. It will effect every single Megaman from every timeline. Remember that."

Shocked in horror, Quint went back to his room, locking the door shut for the rest of the night, not wanting to hear anymore of R-Shadow's lectures as he continues not to believe what he says, dispite the fact that Quint is actually (or at least used to be) Megaman, the protector and defender of the world (even with memory loss from the recent reprogramming incident). He kneeled down on the floor as he hugged Sakugarne very tightly, as he begins to sob. The little jackhammer didn't blame Quint about this future, nor that he wanted to live in a world like this.

He wanted to go home. But R-Shadow has complete control of the Time Skimmer and refuses to give it to those who has a gentle heart. They'll only use it to create chaos and destruction in every timeline, that can cause major time paradoxes.

Quint is unsure that if he'll handle staying with the Dimensions for a long time, if his electronic heart and his sanity can take it, that is...

To be continued...?


End file.
